| Edition |
DVD special ed. |
| Description |
1 videodisc (117 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (28 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.) |
| Series |
Criterion collection ; 572 |
|
Criterion collection (DVD videodiscs) ; 572.
|
| Note |
D'après le roman de [After the novel by] Béatrice Beck, Prix Goncourt, Editions Gallimard. |
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Originally produced as a French motion picture in 1961. |
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Special features: Featurettes: Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean-Pierre Melville (5 min.) (1961); Selected-scene commentary by Ginette Vincendeau (35 min.); Deleted scenes (4 min.); Original theatrical trailer (3 min.); Booklet includes the essay "Life during wartime" by Gary Indiana and "Melville on 'Léon Morin, priest'" (1970), an interview excerpt from "Melville on Melville." |
| Contents |
Opening credits -- A distant war -- Sabine -- A hasty baptism -- Inadvertent absolution -- Citizen-priest, comrade-father -- The dot and the circle -- The French race -- Spiritual adviser -- Little France -- No hard feelings -- "I'm converted" -- Blinded by jealousy -- A country priest's maid -- Change in atmosphere -- A happy childhood -- A stimulating sermon -- As a wife? -- Just one time -- Like a dead branch -- Virgin territory -- Miracles for heretics -- Color bars. |
| Credits |
Directeur de la photographie, Henri Decaë ; musique, Martial Solal ; harmonica, Albert Raisner ; décors, Daniel Gueret, Robert Christides ; montage [editors], Jacqueline Meppiel, Nadine Marquand, Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte. |
| Cast |
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emanuelle Riva, Irène Tunc, Nicole Mirel, Gisèle Grimm, Marco Béhar, Monique Bertho, Marc Heyraud, Nina Gregoire, Monique Hennessy, Cédric Grant, George Lambert, Marielle Gozzi, Patricia Gozzi, Gérard Buhr, Howard Vernon. |
| Summary |
Life during wartime is not simply men shooting at one another, but also women tending to their children. The widow Barny is one, an office worker in a rural village in occupied France, whose child's father was a Jewish man. When genial Italians occupy the village, all is well. Then the Nazis arrive, round up and shoot the Italians, and get down to the business of rounding up Jews. Barny has her daughter baptized as a Catholic for legal certification--and also sends her to hide on a farm in the country. A communist, she takes out her anger at this subterfuge by arguing with the priest, the young Father Morin. The priest and the widow begin a series of spiritually-cum-sexually-charged dialogues. Barny's crush on Father Morin offers a place for the film to examine religious conviction, while exploring the philosophy of belief and its meaning in everyday struggle. |
| Audience |
MPAA rating: Not rated. |
| System Details |
DVD; Region 1, NTSC ; Dolby digital mono.; widescreen presentation, preserving the 1.66:1 aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition, enhanced for 16:9 televisions. |
| Language |
In French, with optional subtitles in English. |
| Subject |
Catholic Church -- France -- Clergy -- Drama.
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Widows -- France -- Drama.
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Priests -- Psychology -- Drama.
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Man-woman relationships -- France -- Drama.
|
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French literature -- Film adaptations.
|
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Motion pictures, French.
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France -- History -- German occupation, 1940-1945 -- Drama.
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| Genre/Form |
Fiction films.
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Feature films.
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Film adaptations.
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Feature films -- France.
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Feature films -- Italy.
|
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Criterion collection
|
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Foreign language films -- French.
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| Added Author |
Ponti, Carlo, 1912-2007. Producer.
|
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Beauregard, Georges de. Producer.
|
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Melville, Jean-Pierre, 1917-1973. Adapter. Screenwriter. Director.
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Belmondo, Jean-Paul, 1933- Actor.
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Riva, Emmanuèle. Actor.
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Tunc, Irène, 1938-1972. Actor.
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Mirel, Nicole. Actor.
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Grimm, Gisèle. Actor.
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Béhar, Marco. Actor.
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Bertho, Monique. Actor.
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Heyraud, Marc. Actor.
|
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Gregoire, Nina. Actor.
|
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Hennessy, Monique. Actor.
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Grant, Cédric. Actor.
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Lambert, George. Actor.
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Gozzi, Marielle. Actor.
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Gozzi, Patricia. Actor.
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Buhr, Gérard, 1928-1988 Actor.
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Vernon, Howard. Actor.
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Solal, Martial. Composer.
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Raisner, Albert. Performer.
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Beck, Béatrix.
Léon Morin, prêtre.
|
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Rialto Pictures LLC.
|
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Studio Canal.
|
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Lux Compagnie cinématographique de France.
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| Note |
Title on container: Léon Morin, priest : a film by Jean-Pierre Melville |
| Added Title |
Criterion collection.
|
| ISBN |
9781604654561 |
|
1604654562 |
| Standard No. |
715515084710 |
| Music No. |
CC2038D The Criterion Collection |
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